Sleep Deprivation,Disorders,and Drugs

Essay by chellsCollege, UndergraduateA+, November 2009

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I do not ever remember having any sleeping problems until around ten years ago when I had some medical issues occur. I was on heavy medication for quite some time which made me quite sleepy most of the time. When it came time to stop taking the medication I found that I could no longer fall asleep on my own. To this day I find myself taking some kind of pain relief/pm medication to help me sleep. When I do not receive enough sleep for the night I tend to be easily annoyed, I get irritable, I am unable to concentrate, and I have a shorter fuse. I also have a harder time concentrating on things and being able to accomplish what I need to for that particular moment or day. I was also slower to respond to some situations than I would normally be. This does coincide with everything that I have read about sleep deprivation.

Sleep is essential to life; it is a state of suspended sensory and motor activity known to occur periodically in humans and other warm-blooded animals (Colliers Encyclopedia, pg 78). Sleep deprivation is a common problem that has many negative outcomes. Some of these outcomes of sleeping only a few hours a night are lessening of your attention span, irritability, and fatigue. We know sleep deprivation is not good for us but there are studies being done that indicate sleep deprivation may have some positive effects on us as well. Sleep is a common aspect to life; sleep deprivation is becoming more and more prevalent in today's society. We all have some form of stress in our lives, the more stress we have the more common it would be to have some type of sleep deprivation in our lives as well. There are many...